"Co-workers that were laid off w/ me whom have found new jobs avoid me like the plague. I learned 2 things: 1. Friends at work are fake no matter how close you think you are. 2. Everyone except yourself and most of your family are scumbags."
- via Craigslist Job Forum when I asked how the Recession had affected people.

"No money for the good haircut, no need to shave."
-Dave, former CEO, Brooklyn

"We make our own laundry detergent as a family activity"
-A., journalist, NYC

Everyone was affected by the 2008 recession. And while people drank away their sorrows or camped out at Zucotti Park, artist Lori Nelson was there getting their stories. From Manhattan bars to Governors Island to even Germany, Nelson gathered hundreds of stories from strangers about how the recession had affected them. She then turned their responses into illustrated pine plaques in her series Souvenirs of a Recession.

The project features more than 100 plaques with responses that range from “No money for the good haircut, no need to shave” to “We make our own laundry detergent as a family activity.” Although today the economy isn’t quite as bad as it was, the hardships of the ever-shrinking middle class is a present, ongoing struggle that’s not going away any time soon.